Sanitary chicken-house.



N. M. ANDERSON.

SANITARY CHICKEN HOUSE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 1. 1915.

1,181,204. Patented May2, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

W %,%QMWW N. M. ANDERSON.

SANITARY CHICKEN HOUSE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY]. 1915 1 1 81 ,204. Patented May 2, 1916.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

5) M5 ATTOP/YEVJ Q W M UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

NIELS M. ANDERSON, F DASSEL, MINNESOTA.

SANITARY CHICKEN-HOUSE.

Application filed May 1, 1915.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, NIELS M. ANnERsoN, acitizen of the United States, residing at Dassel, in the county ofMeeker and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Sanitary Chicken- Houses; and I do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains tomake and use the same.

My invention has for its object to provide a sanitary chicken house;and, to this end, it consists of the novel construction and arrangementof parts hereinafter described and defined in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate the invention, likecharacters indic'ate like parts throughout the several views.

Referring to the drawings: Figure 1 is a view of the sanitary chickenhouse in transverse vertical section; Fig. 2 is a front elevation of theparts located in the vicinity of the line 00 m of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is alongitudinal vertical section taken on the line a) m of Fig. 1, on anenlarged scale, some parts being broken away; Fig. 4 is a transversesection taken on the line m :0 of Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is a view partly in endelevation and partly in transverse vertical section taken on line a a:of Fig. 3; Fig. 6 is a fragmentary view in perspective of the nest boxesand one of the wall brackets; Fig. 7 is a fragmentary view inperspective of the fatten ing coop: and Fig. 8 is an end elevation ofthe fattening coop and one of the wall brackets, some parts being brokenaway, and

some of the exposed parts being shown in section.

The numeral 1 indicates a chicken house having a window 2 in the frontwall thereof. Permanently secured to the back wall of the chicken house1 are two or more laterally spaced Wall brackets 3, located above thefloor and having upper and lower horizontal supporting surfaces 4 and 5,respectively. These supporting surfaces 1 and 5 of each bracket 3 arelocated, the latter forward of the former, and they are connected by avertical portion 6. The free or inner ends of the supporting surfaces 4are bent upward and secured by bolts, or other suitable means, to therear wall of the chicken house 1, and the free or outer ends of thesupporting surfaces 5 are bent upward to afford retaining Specificationof Letters Patent.

Patented May 2, 1916.

Serial No. 25,173.

lugs 7, the purpose of which will presently appear.

Oblique flexible connections 8, such as chains, are provided forsupporting the outer portion of the brackets 3, to prevent theirsagging. The upper end portions of the chains 8 are secured to the rearwall of the chicken house 1 above the brackets 3, and their lower endsare secured to the brackets 3 at the junction of the supporting surfaces4 with the vertical portions 6.

A deck 9 is removably supported on the supporting surfaces 4 of thebrackets 3, and is provided at its longitudinal edges with downturnedflanges 10, which support said deck slightly above the brackets 3.

An endless traveling dropping board or apron 11 is mounted to run overhorizontal rollers 12 and 13, journaled in bearing lugs 14, secured toand projecting above the supporting surfaces l of the brackets 3. Theserollers 12 and 13 are located in the plane of the deck, 9, so that theupper run of the board 11 travels over the upper surface of said deckand its lower run travels below the deck 9, between its flanges 10, asbest shown in Figs. 3 and 1. Traveling movement is imparted to the board11 by a hand crank 15 secured to one of the trunnions of the roller 12.

The upper edge of the inclined trough 16 is arranged to scrape the board11 at a point where the same passes over the roller 12. This trough 16is rigidly secured to a receiving receptacle 17 removably mounted on thetop of a chest of drawers 18 for receiving feed or other supplies.

Roost supporting bars 19 are supported above each wall bracket 3, asshown in Figs. 1 and 2. The inner ends of these bars 19 are bent upwardand permanently secured by bolts, or other suitable means, to the rearwall of the chicken house 1, and their outer ends are supported by thechains 8. Roosts 20 extend longitudinally of the board 11 and areremovably supported on the bars 19. Any suitable means may be providedfor securing the roost 20 to the bars 19, such as twisted wires, orshort bolts passed through alined perforations in the bars 19 and roosts20.

A drop curtain 21, of sheeting or other suitable material, is suspendedfrom the ceiling of the chicken house 1, directly over the verticalportions of the wall brackets 3, so that when the curtain is let downthe same structure 47.

will inclose the roosts 20. A rod 22 is secured to the lower edge of thedrop curtain 21 for holding the curtain in position, on which rod thecurtain is wound. Any suitable means may be provided for rolling andunrolling the curtain 21 on the rod 22.

A multiplicity of connected laterally spaced nest boxes are removablymounted on the supporting surfaces 5 of the wall brackets 3. These nestboxes 23 comprise a front board 2- a rear board 25, end boards 26, anoblique cover board 27, having a hinged section 28, partition boards 29,and a bottom board 30, having an extension af fording a running board31. All of the parts comprising the nest boxes 23, with the exception ofthe bottom board 30, are per manently connected, one with the other, sothat they may be lifted as an entirety from the wall brackets Therunning board 31 extends under the deck 9 toward the rear wall of thechicken house 1, and it is notched at 32 to receive the verticalportions 6 of the wall brackets 3, as best shown in Fig. 6. Chickensenter and leave the nest boxes 23 through an opening 33, formed betweenthe front board 25 and cover board 27. Access may also be had to thenest boxes 23, for the the action of gravity.

Secured to the front wall of the chicken house 1, under the window 2, isa multi plicity of laterally spaced fattening coops 34. These coops 34are removably mounted on two or more metallic brackets 35, hinged at 35"to said front wall for vertically swinging movement. The outer ends ofthe brackets are extended to form vertical and horizontal extensions 36and 37, respectively. Flexible connections 39, such as chains, supportthe brackets 35 in operative positions. The upper ends of these chains39 are permanently secured to the front wall of the chicken house 1,below the window 2, and their lower ends are detachably connected byhooks 40 to the upper ends t nests placed therein.

leaving the bottom board and nests in origibracket extension 36 andextends onto the bracket extensions 37 to afford a feed-sup portingboard or shelf 49. The slats of the bottom structure t? are looselyseated under the partition boards l6 and the shelf 49 is removablysupported in notches 50, as well as said slats, formed in the bracketswhich notches hold the slats and shelf 49 properly spaced.

Chickens are placed in and removed from the fattening coop through thehinged section 45 of the cover board M, which hinged section is heldclosed under the action of gravity. 7

From the foregoing description, it is evident that the sanitary chickenhouse may be very easily and quickly cleaned. In actual usage, sand orsawdust will be placed on the upper run of the dropping board. rotatingthe hand-crank 15 in the proper direction, the dropping board 9 will becaused to travel against the trough 16, which acts as a scraper tothoroughly clean the dropping board.

In cleaning the nest boxes L3, they may be lifted bodily from the wallbrackets 9 nal position. The old nests may be removed purpose ofremoving the eggs, through the t-from the bottom board and said bottomhinged section 28 of the cover board 27,} ,board thoroughly cleanedbefore the nest which hinged section 28 is held closed under r" ioxesare again placed thereon, and new of the bracket extensions 36. Thesefattening coops 34 comprise a front wall structure 41, a back board 42,end boards 43, an ob lique cover board let, having a hinged section 45,partition boards -l6, and a bottom All of the parts comprising thefastening coops 34, with the exception of the bottom structure 47, arepermanently connected and may be lifted as an entirety from thesupporting brackets 35. As best shown in Fig. 7, the front wallstructure of the fattening coops 34 is made up of vertically extendedslats connected at their upper and lower ends to horizontal slats. Thebottom structure is made up of a multiplicity of edge-wise spaced slatsand a wide board, which is notched at 48 to receive the The fatteningcoop may be cleaned while the chickens are held therein, simply bywithdrawing one of the bottom slats at a time.

Vhat I claim is:

1. In a chicken house, the combination with a roost, of a dropping boardmounted below the roost and located close to one of the walls of thechicken house, a plurality of nest boxes mounted below the droppingboard, at one side thereof and facing the wall to which the droppingboard is closely located, said nest boxes having a displaceable cover,and a running board extending in front of the nest boxes and locatedunder the dropping board.

2-. In a chicken house, the combination with a pair of wall bracketshaving upper and lower supporting surfaces located, the latter at oneside of the former, a dropping board mounted on the upper supportingsurfaces of the wall brackets, a roost supported above the droppingboard, a plurality of nest boxes mounted on the lower supportingsurfaces of the wall brackets, and a running board extending in front ofthe nest boxes and located under the dropping.

board.

3. In a chicken house, the combination with a pair of wall brackets, ofa deck mounted on the wall brackets and havin depending side flangessupporting the doc above the wall bracket, 2. pair of rollers journaledon the Wall brackets, an endless traveling dropping board mounted on therollers, With its upper run arranged to travel over the deck, and withits lower run arranged to travel under the deck between its sideflanges, means for imparting the traveling movement t1 the droppingboard. and a roost supported over the dropping board.

4. In a chicken house, the combination with a pair of wall bracketshaving upper and lower supporting surfaces located, the latter in frontof the former, of an endless traveling dropping board mounted on theupper sup 'iorting surfaces of the wall brackets, a plurality of nestboxes mounted on the lower supporting surfaces of the wall brackets, andhaving a running board extending under the dropping board, and a roostsupported above the dropping board.

5. In a chicken house, the combination with a pair of wall bracketshaving upper and lower supporting surfaces located, the latter in frontof the former, of an endless traveling dropping board mounted on theupper supporting surfaces of the wall brackets, a plurality of nestboxes mounted on the lower supporting surfaces of the wall brackets andhaving entrance passages facing the dropping board and also having arunning board in front of the entrance passages and under the droppingboard, and a roost supported above the dropping board.

6. In a chicken house, the combination with a pair of wall bracketshaving upper and lower supporting surfaces located, the latter in frontof the former, of an endless traveling dropping board mounted on theupper supporting surfaces of the Wall brackets, a plurality of nestboxes mounted on the lower supporting surfaces of the Wall brackets andhaving entrance passages facing the dropping board and also having arunning board in front of the entrance passages and under the droppingboard, a roost supported above the dropping board, and a drop curtainsupported from the ceiling of the chicken house in front of the droppingboard over the nest boxes.

7. In a chicken house, the combination with a pair of wall bracketshaving upper and lower supporting surfaces located, the latter in frontof the former, of an endless traveling dropping board mounted on theupper supporting surfaces of the wall brackets, a plurality of nestboxes mounted on the lower supporting surfaces of the wall brackets andhaving entrance passages facing the dropping board and also having arunning board in front of the entrance passages and under the droppingboard, said nest boxes also having a hinged cover section, and a roostsupported above the drop ping board.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

NIELS M. ANDERSON.

Witnesses LAMBERT ANDERs, G. B. MCDANIEL.

Copiu of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. G.

